Retuning to the Vision
by Kairah
Summary: Yeah....Your basic Hitomi goes back, blah blah, blah, Van needs her help. yadda yadda yadda, but read it anyway, eh?


Disclaimer: I don't own the Esca characters, which sucks. Don't sue me! Please, although, even if you do, you'll never get anything! HAH! Because.I...have.nothing..Oh well. And on with the story...I guess...  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Oh, yeah!!!! This will be a V/H (for those of you who don't know that's Van/Hitomi) fic. (D'uh) It may not seem like that now, but...we'll get there, eventually.  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter One  
  
  
  
  
  
Hitomi Kanzaki grabbed her math textbook and slammed her locker shut. Then she started briskly walking to the library.  
  
It was her free period, something she normally used with her best friend, Yukari, but she had a math final coming up and she really needed to study for it. Any time she could squeeze in, was time she was going to use, thank-you very much.  
  
So, she was spending her favourite part of the school day in a room filled with books, studying for a subject she didn't really like. Things could always be worse, couldn't they? She sure hoped not.  
  
She walked into the library, greeting the people who spoke to her. She tossed her binder onto a nearby empty table and flopped down into a hard chair.  
  
Pulling her math textbook toward her, she began to study. Half way through Algebraic expressions, her sight began to slide in and out of focus.  
  
Wow, she thought. I must be studying too hard; I'm having trouble concentrating.  
  
  
  
Then the sounds around her, started to slow down and buzz.  
  
  
  
  
  
Then everything went black and Hitomi was thrown into a vision. Something she hadn't experienced in two years.  
  
  
  
  
  
She was in a lush field with wildflowers growing everywhere. She spun around trying to figure out where she was, as well as the point of the vision.  
  
The soft breeze blew her hair into her eyes, so she couldn't see. When she finally fought it out of her eyes, she saw she was no longer in the field, but a large castle.  
  
Flames licked around the tapestries that hung on the walls and the rugs on the floor. Things were quickly eaten up with the heat of the flames.  
  
Then she saw him. Van. The young King of Fanelia. He was standing in the flames. Untouched. Unharmed. He reached forward a hand and beckoned her toward him. But, then, Hitomi started to feel dizzy with the heat and started to sway from the light-headedness.  
  
Then she was gone.  
  
".Tomi? Hitomi, wake up, please!"  
  
Hitomi opened bleary emerald eyes. She heard someone calling her name distantly. She looked into worried roan eyes.  
  
"Hitomi, are you okay?" Yukari asked worriedly.  
  
Hitomi brought her head up and shook out the last remnants of sleepy fog from her brain. "I'm great!" She lied, trying to ease her friend's anxiety.  
  
Yukari gave her a suspicious look and Hitomi pasted on a big smile.  
  
"What are you doing here anyway?" Hitomi asked, trying to divert her friend's attention. She didn't feel like explaining the vision to anyone. She didn't know what it meant yet, how was she supposed to explain it to someone who didn't know the first thing about them?  
  
She had never told Yukari about anything that happened on Gaea, or even about Gaea itself.  
  
"Um, you asked for help studying for this test of yours, so I was here to help you.and I found you like this."  
  
"Oh, I fell asleep, I guess. I find Algebra so boring. That's why I fail!" Hitomi insisted, to Yukari, who was smirking.  
  
"Riiight. Of course that's why." Yukari replied, dropping down into the chair beside Hitomi and pulling the textbook to her.  
  
Hitomi punched her lightly in the arm. "Oh shut up," she joked.  
  
"Hmmm, this is easy stuff." Yukari muttered to herself.  
  
"Thanks lots," Hitomi replied sarcastically.  
  
"Anytime," Yukari said, and proceeded to explain how Hitomi could remember everything easier when it came time for the test.  
  
~*~  
  
Hitomi sat curled up on her bay window cushion, watching the rainfall, and looking through her duffel bag that was open in front of her legs.  
  
She was looking at the items her friends from Gaea had given her before she had returned home.  
  
Oh, how she missed them.  
  
First she pulled out the mahogany box she had received from Princess Millerna and Merle, the young cat girl, had given her.  
  
She opened the box and gently rubbed the winking diamonds and emeralds that made up the circlet that was inside, set in the sturdiest of sterling silvers.  
  
It was so like them, Hitomi decided. Princess Millerna was the younger of Asturia's two remaining princesses, blonde hair and blue-eyed.  
  
Merle, the young cat-girl, had soft pink hair and orange tufts of fur. Having lost her parents when she was young, Merle grew up strong and independent, while still caring for and taking care of Van, her best friend.  
  
Hitomi set the box and diadem aside, then picked up the second item. It was a small, drawstring silk bag. The contents jingled when Hitomi opened it. She upended the bag and five sliver coins of differing shaped spilled onto the palm of her hand.  
  
Typical Dryden, she thought wryly. A merchant to the bone was Dryden. Of course, he'd give her money.  
  
Putting the coins back into the bag, she pulled out another thing from her bag. It was a small dagger. Sighing, she ran her fingers over the scabbard it was encased in. She turned it over and saw the engraved message.  
  
Until We Meet Again.  
  
A message from everyone on the scabbard of the dagger from Allen and his crew of the Crusade. Hitomi laughed quietly to herself. They would give her something she couldn't use. Oh, well, it was the thought that counted.  
  
She rested her head against the window, her glittering eyes squeezed tightly shut.  
  
Nearly two long years had passed since Hitomi had been to Gaea. Two long years.  
  
If she were to go back now, would anyone recognize her?  
  
With her physical appearance, certainly. Even though she had grown into womanhood. Even though, her hair had grown to the middle of her back in soft russet, silky waves. Even though her face had slimmed making her emerald eyes and cheekbones more prominent, she would still be recognizable.  
  
Although with her personality, she wasn't so sure. In the years that she had been away from Gaea, she had grown more assertive. Stronger.  
  
She glanced across the room; to the mirror she had hanging on the wall, and looked at herself. All she saw was a woman with sad eyes.  
  
Until we meet again, she thought and closed her eyes, resting her forehead on the cool glass as the rain continued to fall, mirroring her sorrow in it's fullest.  
  
~*~So, what did you think? Let me know! PLEASE REVIEW! 


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